“But the British government believes it has a solution: drill baby, drill, regardless of local opposition.”
I’d like to think the Brits had found a cure for their sad obsession with “social welfare” that was the first sign of their appalling emasculation, that they had finally grown a pair. Alas, odds are 5 to 1 that they back off their decision as quickly as they made it and slink away in the dead of night.

Boritz

“The key difference in this case is that Americans are afforded mineral
rights—that is, they not only own the surface of their land, but also
what’s underneath it—which gives communities the incentive to allow
companies to come in and frack.”

Here is a simple solution. Tax the communities that have oil but refuse to go along with drilling. Call it a petro-retention fee. This should be simple to accomplish in the country that forced businesses to mason over windows so they didn’t have to pay a tax for accessing sunshine.

PKCasimir

Anyone who has followed politics in the UK closely over the last 20 years knows that fracking will never be allowed in the UK. A Tory government, currently in coalition, with a disintegrating Liberal Democrat Party, may try and force the issue but the coalition will never succeed. Labor, should it regain power, will never permit it.
Americans are delusional when it comes to the UK; still thinking that it is the land of Margaret Thatcher. In reality, Thatcher never held more than a bare majority of the ideological support of the Tories, never mind the Lib Dems and Labor. In reality, the UK is to the far, far left of California. Decades of socialist rule have wrecked the country. The only thing keeping it prosperous is the City, with is reliance on shady banking practices, corrupt third world tycoons, and Russian oligarchs. In many ways, the City has become a 21st century version of Switzerland.
The country has lost the will to fight, has unilaterally disarmed, and it cannot even recruit enough soldiers to fill a hollow army. Sic transit Gloria.

Jacksonian_Libertarian

“This may not be the smartest move for the sitting government; the British people understandably expect to have some input into what happens in their local communities. Riding roughshod over homeowner protests won’t win politicians many votes come the next national election.”

Please, these property owners are just negotiating for their share of the wealth beneath their land, they can be bought off if the price is right. But, the price isn’t right, American landowners in North Dakota have become wealthy off the fracking taking place on their land, and the British think they deserve the same.

B-Sabre

Except that the homeowners can’t get rich. The enumeration is being offered to the community, not the individuals. Which I take to mean the local government at some level. (UK representational structure is so opaque to me that I have to assume it is some form of counter-invasion method, like taking down road signs.)